I'm bringing this to the Darrens and attention

[CyberAssassin]

I know of 20+ people including me that have stopped watching hak5, since Wess left. The quality of the shows has decreased tremendously, its just sickening on how far the show has lost content and the "underground" feel. I've asked around and I've gotten the same response from a lot of people that think that the current hosts do nothing for the show. Matt and Chris do not add anything to the show, they are only in it for the popularity, the show needs real hosts. Darren is the only one that is capable of doing this show, the Matt and Chris need to take a hike and find something they are good at. Does anyone remember the original live shows? The ones that were good and enjoyable, and actually had content? The live shows now are only 3 men sitting around drinking and accomplishing nothing, if I wanted to watch men drinking I'd watch diggnation. The show used to be compared to that of TSS now it seems that everyone is comparing it to Systm, thats sad Hak5 USED to be enjoyable. I'm sad to say that this show is not what it used to be, and most think it will never be what it was again. The Day Wess Left Was the Day Hak5 Died. But here's a tip get new hosts and content, and you might have a chance to resurrect the once great show Hak5.

[nicatronTg]

Cyber, you took the words right out of my--er post...

[digip]

In all fairness, Wess hasn't done much in the last season, and we haven't even watched anything since he announced he was leaving(let's not count the live uStream the other day, that isn't fair to call that an episode of Hak5. More or less just community call in rants for people to discuss the new season and it's direction)

I say we at least see what the next few ep's have to offer before jumping ship. At least give things a chance since the whole flood, lack of wess and obvious personal life of all involved in the show taking priority over last season. Things have changed since day one, and I don't think you can relive season 1 to make yourself feel any better, but if you have watched since day one and been with them through every episode, you had plenty of time to speak about change of direction or ideas for helping with the show.

The one thing I like about Hak5 is the watchers are as much a part of the community of the show as the cast, so while we may be tiffed when compared to shows like systm or tekzilla(which I don't even think they are anything close to one another other than computers being involved, tekzilla are corporate america trying to make a buck, hak5 is the peoples choice for a variety of stuff), with out having something to compare them to, then how do you set yourself apart from the rest of the shows out there? The fact that you have a place like this forum, the IRC channel, and direct contact with Darren to voice those opinions is part of what makes the show work for me.

Yeah, I hope to see a renewed energy this season, and some fresh content, but I am not going to bash it before I even see what the new season has to offer with a new set, new(er) cast, and smaller segment format. I encourage the community to at least start speaking up more and getting involved instead of waiting around for Season 1 to be reborn somehow. You can't relive the past, you can only make note of what it was and try to move forward in a positive direction and hope that you can stay inspired to make something new with what's left of the show. Otherwise, stop watching already, but bashing everyone isn't going to fix it or make Darren feel any better about trying to continue the show. If anything, it would only make him want to pack it in (In my opinion) and walk away.

[Darren Kitchen]

I'm really sorry you feel that way. For better or worse I can't change the past and must continue the show in its present form -- which I believe is truly awesome. I hope you tune into this new season and watch the episodes that air in September before making final judgment.

I wish Wess didn't leave the show too. I wish he would come on episode after episode with awesome mod after awesome mod. I wish he had the passion he once had for this and I think it's a shame that he's left the show high and dry on it's biggest premiere yet. Had I believed him at the last Shmoocon when he said he was leaving we might have had some lead time preparing for his departure. Had he stuck with the word he gave me just last month about continuing with the show in season4 we probably wouldn't be having this conversation. But alas he made his decision -- one I learned along side you -- and you're right the show will suffer from that.

However, I don't believe this is the end of Hak5. In fact, what we've got here is a new beginning. Any Hak5 fan from the start of this whole mess knows the ups and downs we've had. From kickoff production troubles to the hay-day of Harrison, John, Wess, Alli, Paul and myself, to losing two cast members, to an influx of new viewers as we "went mainstream" and started doing segments for Call for Help.

Then there was Season2 and the move to a new house. The Evil Server saga that must have been borrowing the writers from LOST. We had live show betas, alphas, release candidates, and we had 11 minute episodes of basically, we're sorry we've got squat this month so lets check out the new video mixer. Then we had live to tape, live switching, and all of the fun that came with the new shooting style. We've had USB tools that seemed awesome at first until the script kiddies got a hold of it and shit hit the fan -- only later to be mimicked by Microsoft with it's Coffee project.

We've had IRC servers come and go, changes to the noob server, the game host, the BBS, and the forums. Hak5 has been in perpetual reinvention. It's gone from hobby to hobby + pocket change to hobby + pocket change + new equipment for (hopefully) better quality. The show started because we had a dream of independent television and I needed more than cat footage to edit (mind you this was before the LOLCAT phenomenon, had this started in 2007 it might be a very different show *meow*)

Then we've had the flood that nix'd our season 3 finale and our season 4 premier. It's cost over $25,000 (thankfully most of that was covered by insurance) and nearly 4+ months of ongoing repairs. We've joined with a network, our digital neighbors from way back when we started, and we've been treated with respect from them ever since.

And all this time my biggest concern has been one thing. Making the show. Anyone that's worked with me on this crazy venture knows that the bottom line is we're releasing on the 5th. Ok once or twice the 6th. And now as we go weekly it's more so than ever, lets make the best show we can make this time around. The fact that I've got support from those I do has astounded me.

I truly appreciate all of the ME that Wess, Alli, Harrison, John, Paul, Matt, Shannon, Chris, Rob, and everyone else has tolerated and endured over these past few years. I'm truly amazed at everyone's dedication, obsession, and straight out technolust we've had for this show. But,

No. Hak5 won't be the same. Tomorrow won't be yesterday but we'll keep getting up, we'll keep throwing on the lights, the cameras, the video mixers, the laptops and wireless cards and routers and raid systems--because we love what we're doing, we're crazy about this medium, we're passionate about our segments--else we wouldn't be doing any at all--and at the end of the day all we care about is bring you guys the best quality hack, sysadmin, gaming, crazy-dude-with-soldering-iron content we can produce.

I miss the old days of Hak5 as much as you do. But I'm not going to dwell on nostalgia or the ice cave in Alaska (which didn't have WiFi mind you). I'm totally stoked about a fresh new season of Hak5 with some awesome people that are stupid and crazy enough to follow me on this adventure in search of the illusive technolust.

We're going to fuck up. We're going to take some time to find our stride. We're going to be rough around the edges--and isn't that what you fell in love with anyway? But we're sure as hell in this for the long haul. We're here because we're passionate about tech and we hope you're just as crazy cause this little hobby might have just been cleared for takeoff. Be excited, you've boarded WAY before the newbies. Lay back, stretch your feet out in first class and tune in.

This is your show as much as it is ours. We really care about our audience, hence why I'm writing a book here. And if there's anything constructive you want to share about the new show PLEASE don't hesitate to chime in. And don't be so quick to dismiss it either. Like I said, it'll be a while before this craft is flying at 30,000 in clear skies. If you really care about Hak5 -- based on your comment above I'm pretty sure you do -- keep commenting. Keep hounding us when we bork it all up. Let us know when a segment puts you to sleep or when something really tickles your technolust.

Post here or email me at my personal address, aardwolf AT gmail D0T com, and share your continued view on the show. After all, it's really here just for you.

[tabath]

Nicely put Darren and why I will continue to watch this season and give the show a chance. As I've said before, yes I will miss Wess because I feel you and Wess had a great screen chemistry which is just not present with the new presenters but thats not to say they won't do a good job on their segments.I'd just like the tech related skits and sketches brought back, evil server , haxor flakes type stuff etc, that really separated this show from the other tech mag type shows.

[VaKo]

I think in all honesty you need to clarify Hak5's position on Wess's choice to leave the show. There has been very little in the way of an offical announcement on the subject, which is suprising, and the bits and peices that have come from the cast don't appear to be "on message".

[psydT0ne]

I think what weighs heavily on my mind and would be important for a few other people is to simply know that Darren and all the other guys and gals to go into putting hak5 together are willing to accept criticism in all it's forms from the fans well into the future as dutifully as they do now. It's important to us fans I guess to know that our gripes don't go unheeded.

Maybe people are just a little skeptical or even scared that when something like Hak5 and Revision3 get together that they're going to lose that close knit sense of belonging, a common ground if you like..maybe even lose that approachablility and backyard familiarity that makes people warm to the show so much.

I remember when I first came across Hak5, I actually did a search in google for "iptv shows like systm". What I found was the complete opposite. A show that had a bunch of everyday guys with no ego, mad on tech and more than anything willing to share cool stuff and answer any question from anyone who asked.

I hope that the next season of hak5 is going to be better than ever....and I hope that the show goes from strength to strength based on an incredible fanbase and a crew that's willing to listen no matter how big the empire gets ....lol

cheers.

[Rab]

The house flooded, relax a bit jeez.

[DeepN1KE]

Everything develops, everything grows and everything changes.

The changes that happen may and maynot be to everyones taste, but that is life. The show may lose some viewers, may gain new ones.

I would hold out for a few more weeks to see how the new platform develops. I can appreciate how difficult putting the show together must be, along with coming up with content etc.

Keep on going, and dont lose the passion regardless of what people say.

[Matt Lestock]

I'll try to put the Wess controversy to bed as best I can.

Back when we were filming this year's Shmoocon episode, Wess had told Darren and Myself that he didn't have the drive to continue doing the show.

We took him at his word and began to plan around his absence.

Not shortly there after, we got the feeling that Wess was interested in continuing on the show, talking about mod ideas, acting as if the conversations he had with Darren and I never even happened.

So we said cool! Wess is back!

Now fast forward to the announcement of the Revision3 announcement, Wess sent the entire cast an email 5 minutes before posting it to the public, going into IRC and telling everyone about it. To me that does not constitute a "Heads Up" as Wess put it.

So where did that leave us? Now we have to reconfigure our shooting schedule, as well as segment production.

He was not pushed out as some of you may think, we were glad he had a change of heart after the Shmoocon conversations. But in the end, he as well as we, realized that he could not do a show weekly because of the amount of work involved.

So, in closing again, Wess left on his terms, there was absolutely no pushing him out, we gave him every opportunity to be a part of the show again, and in the end, we get 5 minutes notice before everyone else.

Now in regards to CA, I don't feel everyone needs to like us, I'm not pandering to anyone, but I can take constructive criticism with the best of them. However being told that I'm in it for the fame? Now that I take offense to. You know absolutely nothing about myself, or my motivations for being on the show. Why am I on? Perhaps it's because it's something that I love doing. And it's something that I can see doing for a while.

Are we sorry that you don't enjoy the show as much as you used to? Sure. Do we understand Wess had a following? Sure. Are we going back to a shaky cam'd poorly lit "underground" show? No. If that's what you're looking for, I'm sorry. But for those of you that are willing to give a little change a chance, we thank you, and think you'll enjoy what we've got lined up for this year.

With that it's time to get back to work.

Matt

[wetelectric]

Jesus, is this shit still rumbling on....

[VaKo]

"The direction the show is taking" is an issue that's been rumbling about since S01E02...

[Matt Lestock]

"The direction the show is taking" is an issue that's been rumbling about since S01E02...

Vako, is that to say that we should do S01E01 over and over? I mean is that REALLY what people want to see?

Matt

[wetelectric]

Yea, it has been guess. It's been a bunch of peaks and troughs. Thing is though, the troughs have generally been to do with lack of money, people leaving, lack of time etc...

From what I can see I the general ethos hasn't changed that much. There hasn't been a 'hey we're going to be like InDigital!' sort of thing. I from what i've read, don't think there will be. Could be wrong though What do you think Vako, you've been lurking here since year dot?

[Nophix]

Darren and Matt, thank you for clearing a few things up. Wess will be missed, but in all, I'm still interested in seeing where the show will go from here.

As long as it keeps up the underground technolust, and doesn't turn into some AOTS or G4 repeat, we're good to go!

Btw, what ever happened to Evil Server? Was he finally dismantled? Just curious... You never know who's lurking on your network...

[Saxon]

I will keep watching hak5 because it entertains me, I have watched all the episodes I can an all of them have been enjoyable far better than most of the other shows out there. I can prity much say unless the show got dumbed down or makes a turn into a script kiddy fest.

For the most part I am not bothered about who hosts the show as long as they know the subject there talking about, try to bring in new ideas, get rid of a idea that dosent work, an keeps the show fresh. There is nothing worse than becoming a fan in the early days an the show not evolving, admittedly I am newish to hak5 but I can see at every turn they have tried an that is a big Plus mark in my book.

[metatron]

The show is full of fail and so is the IRC server but I'll watch the first two of the next season and if it does not make me laugh or at least smile, I'll just go back to not watching.

[VaKo]

Vako, is that to say that we should do S01E01 over and over? I mean is that REALLY what people want to see?

Matt

No, it was just a refference to this being an endless argument thats been around since the show started to get fans.

Yea, it has been guess. It's been a bunch of peaks and troughs. Thing is though, the troughs have generally been to do with lack of money, people leaving, lack of time etc...

From what I can see I the general ethos hasn't changed that much. There hasn't been a 'hey we're going to be like InDigital!' sort of thing. I from what i've read, don't think there will be. Could be wrong though What do you think Vako, you've been lurking here since year dot?

I agree, the ethos seems the same, but people change, get older and have different priorities as they move through life, there is more money involved now and people have more invested. True, it is less of a close knit community now and the cast don't seem to get as involved with things like the forums as they once did but the main thing thats changed? Its gone from being a bunch of people with video cameras and vauge ideas to it being a serious thing that could one day be a day-job if the next few seasons work out. Turning something you do in your spare time into a product will always mean making changes, but unless you do that the whole thing will eventually fizzle out and die.

On a personal level, I don't think some of the content is pitched at me/my level and I certainly have less time for Hak5 these days simply because I have less free time. But then again since I have been here I've gone from a drunken call center worker/student who couldn't boot a live disc to someone who is now a proffesional and works in IT (ironically the show encouraged me to do this).

I've changed, and I would be disapointed if the show hadn't changed in that time.

[wetelectric]

On a personal level, I don't think some of the content is pitched at me/my level and I certainly have less time for Hak5 these days simply because I have less free time. But then again since I have been here I've gone from a drunken call center worker/student who couldn't boot a live disc to someone who is now a professional and works in IT (ironically the show encouraged me to do this).

I've changed, and I would be disappointed if the show hadn't changed in that time.

I agree. It's good to see how people have grown knowledge wise... viewers and crew.

I suppose has to remember (especially me! ;) ) that viewers to the show comprise of many different levels of expertise. So segments that I would consider dumbed down fluff are valid and necessary. Just, don't do to many of them ;)

The proof is in the puddin'

[RogueHart]

i agree the show has changed. and has gone downhill in 3xXX but i still watched every episode. why? because although it was heavily diluted the technolust i watched the first episode for was still there. and hopefully with the new benefactor having them go weekly a lot of the watered down stuff and constant stream of advertising will be let go a bit and we can get back to the real hak5.

wess being gone sux. but hell any show usually has cast member changes at some point. wess is off to better his life as is alli. darren is still here and there are chris matt snubs ect ect. hak5 has changed a lot since the old days but pay attention enough and youll still see it the way you used to. ill continue to watch hak5. its a great webshow about stuff i care about.

if you need that "underground" feel and want more hard mods. go check out bsodtv.org . they do about 70% pure user submitted content. doesnt get much more underground. and they havent really changed since the first ep. guess its cause they dont have the passion hak5 does.

[Darren Kitchen]

There hasn't been a 'hey we're going to be like InDigital!' sort of thing.

No it's more like this.

1x01 - wtf are we doing

1x02 - wow lets add another light and fix that bad shadow

1x03 - oh you have to focus the camera

1x03.5 - I really like doing this. Lets do a random short show because we can

1x04 - four episodes, we beat the_broken! Interviewing, how do you do that? We have legit music! We can do guest intros!

1x04.5 - another mini episode, just because we feel like it!

1x05 - we've got something resembling a real set now! guest hosting, how do you do that? wireless mics can get radio interference? :(

1x06 - we went to Canada and met the CFH and PP gang. omg! We were on real TV. Ok, Canadian TV but thats nearly real.

1x07 - Crap, John and Harrison are gone. We've got 2 good segments but not enough to fill the show. Lets, um, take viewer questions.

1x08 - This pandora hack that one of our viewers created and submitted is sweet, lets do a segment on that and phone it in the rest of the show. We'll make it up to 'em with a sketch at the end.

1x08.5 - I took the flame bait

1x09 - Dude this is what I'm talking about we've figured out our production, got awesome guests on, and we're having a blast shooting again! This episode is one of my favorites

1x10 - we have to shoot? but I'm le tired. oooh, Harrison is over if he's in a segment or two it'll totally make the show.

2x01 - built a great set, learned a lot about "blocking" and other fun television stuff, and went to HOPE only to get left by Alli and Wess in NYC while to go play tourist. Paul and I try to find something newsworthy at the conference. MD5Lookup was cool. The rest of the conference wasn't. I get pissed at Wess and Alli for deserting us.

2x02 - Bricks are cool! (We had 'em first Tekzilla). We've got a show pack full of great content. I'm getting tired of getting beat up on. I take a swing at Wess. I miss. Makes for a great blooper and 4 months of recovery. Glad I didn't actually hit him, he'd of probably left then and there.

2x03 - Wess and I are cool now. I'm riding on the USB hack wave. We get a great segment up in Canada. We're doing CFH more and more these days and really getting influenced by how "real television production" is done. Not all of it works for us but we adopt what we like.

2x04 - Another segment jam packed with goodness. I've been working extra hard so I take a segment off. Wess does a great interview with the guest but phones it in with an LED mouse. Paul gets some camera time and we find out he's excellent in front of the lens.

2x05 - We just had to do this. We're such HUGE PurePwnage fans. We take the backlash from the skiddies with pride. This episode pwns. Whoa, I can do documentary type Interviews, imagine that?

2x06 - Crap we gotta shoot, but we're in the middle of all this BS while buying a house and the holidays. Quick, throw together some community goodies and get Paul to show 'em our new toy -- the broadcast console.

2x07 - If we can do 3 camera switching live why not stream it via shoutcast. Ustream didn't exist yet. btw we did it first Leo ;) John's in studio, lets give him an award. We've got a segment or two but basically we're learning a big lesson in how crazy LIVE is.

2x08 - Just like 1x09 we truly hit our stride again. This is one of our best episodes. Still struggling with some video production issues though.

2x09 - OMG theres this conference in DC just a few hours from our house and it's like someone got together and said "Lets make a conference just for Hak5". We become Shmoocon addicts. Oh, and we get recognized by random people, how cool is that?

2x10 - Wess does his first segment since the LED mouse on 2x04 and *gasp* it's about software! People bitch cause it's not a mod further enforcing the belief that the guy is typecasted. Paul does an awesome segment on the apple tv so in depth that we had to break it into 2 parts.... 2 part segments, now there's an idea. we'll come back to this in a year. EVILSERVER

3x01 - we're so pro now, lets kick it oldschool. Wess does an amazing mod and we shoot it *gasp* outside the studio! Alli returns after a year long absence to do a photoshop segment. I hope this becomes a reoccurring thing.. She's finally over the flamage she got in the first season (which turns out was all from the same IP address, later we found it was a suicidal jealous ex girlfriend) Lets have fun with the EvilServer story, that's fun!

3x02 - Lets make shorter shows, these hour and a half beasts are hard to watch. I'll just do a shot segment about a website and make Wess' PoE mod the feature. I'll even use a screenshot from his segment the thumbnail for the episode. He deserves a lot of props, 2 awesome mods in a row.

3x03 - I'm in Springfield Missouri, the cast is on break while I throw together a mini documentary. Well holy hell I can do documentary film style. That wasn't so hard. I <3 arcade game. Galaga ftw.

3x04 - I'm doing so much traveling at this point I think I was in studio one weekend total this month. The show is left to Paul and Matt. Wess is off on business travel for the foreseeable future and Alli, I dunno, where's Alli? She hasn't called since she moved out with Wess. I come back from Springfield and review the footage. Cock? Really guys. Whatever, lets make the intro zany!

3x05 - Awesome show as usual, this is what it should be. Just like 1x09 and 2x08 we've got a great show and things are back on track. Though where did the viewers go? Did we scare 'em away with 3x03 and 3x04.. Wess doesn't have a segment of his own so he'll just host.

3x06 - Favorite episode fom season3. Hacking, gaming, hardware. What more could you ask for? Poor Wess though, he's been so busy traveling for work that the best he could come up with is soldering together the robotics project I got him for xmas. Still, it's a decent review and the show is really filled out.

3x07 - Another great episode IMHO. Truly rounded out though we're dealing with some nasty video issues again. What gives, I thought we were pro. This scan converter has got to go. Wess is afk but Matt is filling in really well. He impresses with his first solo segment.

3x08 - SHMOOOOOOO! Just like last year but now we're confined to a special press room. They got stricter about the media stuff and I have a feeling we're to blame. No matter, we've go wicked interviews lined up. Oh yeah, and lets do a live show but not record audio. That would be fun.

3x09 - Security, Sysadmin and Web 2.0. It's not 3x06 but still another good episode. This new scan converter is worse than the last though. We're having major video production troubles. Things just look bad. Interestingly Darren foreshadows with Yahoo PIPES

3x10 - PIPES burst. HakHouse = 100megawet burstable.

3x11 - Season3, I thought this was supposed to be season4! wtf...

HOORAY REVISION3

:sad face: Wess left.

4x01 - Wow we're a little nervous and loopy. It's been months since we've done this but isn't IPTV like riding a bike? what gives? Oh well, it's got plenty of fruit and we wen't down to the coffee shop just like old times. We're still breaking in the new set, the newish cast, and all that fun stuff. Standard Def is really starting show though and I swear if I have to continue using a scan converter to capture live PC video and composite cables I'm going to scream.

4x02 - Holy hell we shot an entire 30 minute episode in an hour. Not just that but we shot it just an hour after wrapping up 4x01. I guess this shooting two episodes every other Saturday thing might really work out.

U R HERE

PS: I hope that's not a knock on InDigital because that show really hit a great stride right before going off air. It was one of my favorite shows on Revision3.

[Darren Kitchen]

So sorry double post. Whip me with a wet noodle if you must.

@metatron, I love you too :)

@vako, I'm getting involved again. I'm in IRC more, I've been posting a lot (I'm sure you've noticed), the BBS is back, bbs.hak5.org, the noob server is coming, we're scheduling LAN Party events and we're looking for ideas on more event driven community projects and such. We'll be featuring the gems of the community on air and hopefully that'll brighten things up a little.

@wetelectric, I never really thought any of our content was that hardcore or technical or underground. It would _really_ help if you could site an example of something you guys thought was leet so I can shoot for more of that. No, riding a motorcycle past a linksys router doesn't count ;)

@roguehart, bsodtv rocks. I should submit some shady phreak stuff.

[cubenvy]

Wow that's really a couple great posts Darren and Matt. It's nice to see you guys in the forums to help us understand what's going on. Especially those of us who've been here since s01e01... pre-alpha ;)

I think that the show will continually evolve into whatever route you guys want it to. I'm sure that there will be those that won't like certain things. But that's NOT why you guys started the show. It wasn't to make OTHER people happy but it was for yourselves and the love of technology. And I do understand a certain level of wanting to make the watchers happy and interested.

What you guys do I wouldn't wish on anyone. It's a hell of a lot of work and I applaud any efforts you have. Especially with the production value you strive to maintain.

I think many people felt that this should be a "Wayne's World" of the reality/technology sector. And since Wayne(Darren) and Garth(Wess) won't be doing it anymore together that it's less special. That may be the case for some but now it's just a different special, like SPED, j/k :D I mean, can't we have love for the new cast too? Are our technolust hearts not big enough?

I certainly appreciate all the time you guys spent, without pay, sleepless nights and on a caffeine highs, to get the show out for us ungrateful, non-paying, pseudo hackers. Such fabulous homebrew only able to be concocted in the brains of the Hak5 evil masterminds.

[RogueHart]

So sorry double post. Whip me with a wet noodle if you must.

@metatron, I love you too :)

@vako, I'm getting involved again. I'm in IRC more, I've been posting a lot (I'm sure you've noticed), the BBS is back, bbs.hak5.org, the noob server is coming, we're scheduling LAN Party events and we're looking for ideas on more event driven community projects and such. We'll be featuring the gems of the community on air and hopefully that'll brighten things up a little.

@wetelectric, I never really thought any of our content was that hardcore or technical or underground. It would _really_ help if you could site an example of something you guys thought was leet so I can shoot for more of that. No, riding a motorcycle past a linksys router doesn't count ;)

@roguehart, bsodtv rocks. I should submit some shady phreak stuff.

hellz yeah lol

[VaKo]

I'm not sure how it would fit in with the show, but personally I would like to see more Windows 2003/2008 content, stuff you would use working in a wintel environment (which, face it kids, is going to be where 90% of us work or will end up). For instance I was recently tasked with going around and collecting service tags from a site full of Dells, but using some vbs scripting I was able to pull the service tags from the machines using WMI info. Stuff like this would balance out the linux-y hacker content. I know you and Matt are both wintel admins and I bet you have tricks up your sleeves that would open up the show to a different demographic.